The Nature of Death and the Dead

[Avatar]

Here's an idea that I quite like:

Of the nature of Death and the Dead, we may enumerate twelve types.

First are those who become new Gods, and for whom New Universes are Born.

Second those who Praise.

Third, those who Fight as Soldiers in the War with Evil.

Fourth, those who Amuse themselves among Flowers and Sweet Streams with sports.

Fifth, those who dwell in Gardens of Bliss, or are Tortured.

Sixth, those who Continue as in Life.

Seventh, those who Turn the Wheel of the Universe.

Eighth, those who find in their Graves their Mothers wombs, and in one Life Circle Forever.

Ninth, Ghosts.

Tenth, those Born Again as Men in their Grandsons time.

Eleventh, those who Return as Beasts or Tree’s.

And Last, those who Sleep.

Gene Wolfe –The Book of Days

(EDIT: Offer rescinded due to lack of interest )

--Avatar

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

What was the offer? That sounds pretty interesting, but so deep and complicated by itself that I really don't know where to begin looking at it.

[Fist and Faith]

That's pretty cool, Av. Syl must be pretty happy with your post!

I'm also kinda interested in this fabled offer.

[[Syl]]

Yep. Have to get around to reading that, one of these days. Most people would be surprised to learn that Wolfe is a fairly devout Christian.

[Avatar]

Yeah, I think it's pretty interesting myself. I know Caer likes Wolfe, but I never guessed that he (Wolfe) was a christian.

The original offer was of 1000 WGD to the first person who correctly guessed which one I intended on experiencing should I ever die

I'll re-instate it, and say that it should be a fairly easy one to guess.

--A

[Sheol]

I don't know if I got the right answer here but I will give it a shot.

Avatar wrote

I too plan to live forever, or die trying. I'm not really bothered with the thought though. I'd prefer a relatively painless death if it can be managed, but beyond that, I don't particularly care.

I think it would make it the last one where you sleep. If you don't care then you don't really have any other plans.

[Avatar]

Wow...Someone actually made a guess! I though this was dead dead dead. (No pun intended.) Sorry to say though Sheol, it's not the right guess.

Anyone else?

--A

[Iryssa]

*grin* the first one?

[Avatar]

Nice one Iryssa. See, I told you it was easy.

1000 WGD to you. (You can always donate them to someone else who's poor.)



--Avatar

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Those who Continue as in Life.
Based on the fact that your philosophies, specificly the spiritual ones, are constantly placing the highest authority in your life and your decisions on yourself.
Even if there WAS a god, and he TOLD you what to do, you'd probably ignore him if you thought he was telling you the wrong thing, and you disagreed with him. You would go with your convictions there,
so I don't see why you would let something as minor as death change your personal philosophy on your behavior

[Avatar]

Even if there WAS a god, and he TOLD you what to do, you'd probably ignore him if you thought he was telling you the wrong thing, and you disagreed with him.

That's certainly true, but why continue as in life? I'd much rather take on a new universe and try my hand at the god game myself, where I get the chance to tell people how I think they should live.

--A

[Nathan]

I like the idea of a peaceful nothingness after death. Eternal 'sleep' can't be that bad, sleep is one of my favourite pastimes afterall.

[Iryssa]

heh. I love sleep...there was this old joke in Bible College, that if you named your bed "The Word" (which is also another term for the Bible), you could truthfully tell your profs that your reason for being late was that you were spending time in The Word and didn't realize what time it was

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Gah, I could never play the god game. I feel guilty for not cleaning the appartment every day. I'd never be able to handle the responsibility.

I think it would be fun for a lot of us to design our own worlds, as though we were gods (to whatever detail we would like to do) and then compare them, see what it says about us.

[Gart]

I'm not sure where this would fall, but given an option, before I moved on I'd like to see a bit more of this universe. It's a very big place of which I know a few bits of one planet.

[matrixman]

Interesting thread, Avatar. However, that bit by Wolfe you quoted shows me again why I never got into his work. The man must be a genius, because he is unintelligible, at least to me. His language is the province of more penetrating minds than mine.

[Avatar]

His language is the province of more penetrating minds than mine.

Sheesh. Do I have to go through this with every Watcher who has more brain than ego?

The world is full of people who'll be quite happy to put you down at every opportunity. Adding yourself to their number is worse than pointless.

And while humility is not necessarily a bad thing, it can be taken too far. There can be as much pride in appearing too humble as there is in arrogance.

And when I saw that you'd posted here, my first thought was, "Cool, he's going to start participating more in the Close."

Take it Easy MM
--Avatar